


Have a Happy Period.

by kotabear24



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Genderswap, Menstruation, PMS symptoms, Touring, girl!Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:39:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1946706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kotabear24/pseuds/kotabear24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the confusing, emotional, and dangerous world of periods and PMS, this is the one in which Harry gets it right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Have a Happy Period.

**Author's Note:**

> This is so, so old. Oh, my stars.

The third week of every month, Louis locked herself in her room and everyone left her alone.

She felt she had a right, as the only girl in the group, to be bossy while she was on her period. The boys didn’t mind, because they really didn’t have any idea what to do.

Liam’s sisters were older, and Harry’s sister was also older, so by the time they knew anything about periods, their sisters had already found ways to cope. Zayn had one older and two younger, but he never really _dealt_ with that sort of thing. And poor Niall - he had no sisters _and_ went to an all-boys school. He had _no_ exposure to periods and such.

Harry _tried_ , the first few times Louis had gone through her period with them. He did it somewhat subtly, though: every second week, Harry would go shopping, buying things like tissue boxes, tampons (he usually bought one of every kind in the variety pack, not wanting to _ask_ Louis something like that), salty foods and ice creams, and Midol - lots and lots of Midol, and brought them to sit in front of Louis' door in the house. Basically, he just bought everything he’d seen girls wanting on TV, trying to keep his best friend happy.

For the most part, though, the boys were uncertain and unsure of themselves on topics like periods, so when Louis kept to herself during that time, they were okay. They carried on, hanging out and eating like boys did, trying desperately to ignore the fact that something was wrong in the universe - something much bigger than them - happening just upstairs in Louis’ room. Louis, in the meantime, kept to herself and only opened her door to come to the kitchen or the bathroom, in which both cases the lads stayed out of her way, not knowing what mood she’d be in. It was a tentative system, but it usually worked well enough.

But when it came time to go on tour, the boys realized there was no separate part for Louis. It was Niall who fearfully brought this up to Liam, who called Harry and Zayn over and discussed it as a team.

“What are we supposed to do?” Niall whispered. They all were looking to Liam for the solution, really, but for the first time, Liam was lost. He just shrugged, looking bewildered.

“Alright,” Zayn said, mentally preparing himself. “So, when Doniya…you know…she just spent time with my mum a lot, and she watched movies a lot. When Waliyha did it, she went out and ran all the time, and took a lot of baths.”

“Well that doesn’t help, Zayn, as we don’t have Louis’ mum, no bath tub, and Louis can’t very well run alongside of the bus!” Niall snapped out of fear. Zayn looked a bit surprised, but easily accepted Niall’s apology quickly afterward.

“Alright, lads, let’s not let something like this mess with our minds,” Liam said sensibly. “We need to meet this thing head-on; we need to present a united front. We can’t battle something like this individually; we’ll lose.” The boys nodded at Liam’s words, knowing he would be making sense.

“So what do we _do_?” Niall repeated desperately. “I’ve never been around such things, what if she starts _crying_ or yelling at me for being a boy?!”

“I say we just read up on things of…this nature…as much as we can, so maybe we can handle this with the proper sentiment and methods,” Liam suggested. The boys all agreed, but Niall just couldn’t be soothed.

“Hey, Nialler, calm down,” Harry said comfortingly. “I’m sure that sort of thing only happens in the movies. We’ll be okay.”

 

\---

 

Louis was crying. All the time. If she wasn’t crying, she was sulking, and if she wasn’t sulking or crying, she was yelling.

“You said things like that didn’t happen in real life!” Niall wailed at Harry as Louis threw a ballet flat through her curtain, aimed for his head.

Niall passed Harry and made his way to the little booth table in the bus, sitting next to Liam and Zayn, who both looked at stricken and haunted as Niall did.

“It’s your turn, Hazza,” Liam said. He looked regretful at sending Harry into a war-zone like this, but he didn’t have a choice. Niall wouldn’t go near Louis again if Liam bribed him with all the food their money could buy, and Zayn was nursing the side of his face, which was still red from Louis’ little hand when Zayn ducked under the curtain with a box of Midol. 

Harry nodded and swallowed, turning away from the lads to collect himself. _There is nothing to fear but fear itself_ , he chanted in his head repeatedly as he walked to the other side of the bus.

As he neared the curtain, he heard Louis sniffing. Knocking on the bus next to the curtain, he called out softly, “Lou? It’s Harry…can I come in?” Louis didn’t answer, so Harry peeked around the curtain slowly, making plenty of noise so Louis would hear him and not be startled into throwing something.

Louis was sat curled in a ball, head thrown up to the ceiling as tears streamed down her cheek. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun, bangs hanging out of her face and off to the side. Her makeup, always light, was a bit of a mess, especially around her eyes, where it had smudged in a few different directions. She was in short shorts and a simple tank top, and she was biting her lip in pain. 

She’d never looked more beautiful, Harry thought out of nowhere. 

“Louis,” Harry murmured softly. Louis whimpered in response, and Harry reached out slowly to touch her hand. Encouraged when she didn’t move it away, Harry pressed closer and sat on the edge of her bed. “Louis, babe, is everything okay?”

Louis sniffed and looked down slowly, her face contorted in pain. Harry watched in horrific fascination as the pain transformed into anger. “Does it _look_ like everything is okay, Harry?” She asked icily.

 _There is nothing to fear but fear itself_. “Well, no…but if you’d explain it to me, maybe I could sympathize…or maybe even help!” He offered, trying to be cheerful but not overly cheerful, the way Niall had been.

Louis wiped at her eyes and gritted her teeth as another wave of pain passed through her abdomen. “You want to know how I’m feeling?” She asked, dry humor and sarcasm dripping in her voice.

Harry nodded a bit eagerly, happy to have at least made more progress than the other lads combined. That happiness quickly dissolved when Louis reached back and pummeled Harry’s stomach with a fist. The air was nearly knocked out of him, and while trying to regain his breath all Harry could think was  _Paul's gonna kill me if I can't sing in the morning,_ as he gasped.

“What the hell was that for?!” he asked through involuntary tears.

“You asked to know how I felt.”

“This is what _cramps_ feel like?!”

“Pretty much…except all the time.”

“Louis…do you want me to get a heating pad for you? It might help,” Harry offered hoarsely. He regretted it the instant Louis’ lower lip began to wobble. “Oh! Louis, babe, please don’t cry! I don’t have to go get it, I can go if you’d rather-“

“You’d do that for me?” Louis asked, her voice coming out squeaky. Harry tensed for a second, trying to discover the right answer in Louis’ eyes. When he saw the hope and amazed gratitude, he found himself nodding. “That’s…that’s so _nice_ , Harry… _thank you_.”

Harry found himself nodding again, and muttered, “’S no problem, love,” as he blushed. “I’ll be right back, get something for that pain…did you want a Tylenol or something, too? I could get you one.” Louis nodded, sniffing again as she rested her chin on top of her knees. Harry ducked around the curtain, headed to the other side of the bus again to get the medicine and heat pack.

“Well?” Liam looked up eagerly as he heard Harry’s footsteps. Liam was anxious. He hated his boys and Louis to be in any type of pain, as the ‘Daddy’ of sorts. It hurt him when he couldn’t help them out.

“Getting a heat pack and some Tylenol for her,” Harry updated them in a bit of a daze; where had those feelings about Louis come from?

As he looked around for something to use as a heat pack, he listened to Niall’s droning on. The boys had taken to their phones, or iPads, or whatever device they carried with them, and were all looking up facts about periods for anything that could help them.

“’…males find females more attractive during their periods, on average, due to the females’ slightly heightened tone of voice. Imperceptible to the conscious, the male anatomy responds subconsciously to the tone and prepares itself to mate.’ So we actually think girls are fitter when they’re on their periods? _Weird_.”

“Don’t be stupid, Nialler,” Zayn scoffed. “What’s that on, Wikipedia?”

Niall looked indignant. “No! It’s in the psychology section of allaboutperiods.com!”

Zayn sobered just as Liam approached Harry with a wadded-up pillowcase. 

“What’s this?” Harry asked him. 

“Put the corn into the pillowcase, wrap it up, and stick it into the microwave for forty-five seconds. It’ll be like a heat pack substitute.”  
Harry took the pillowcase, amazed. “Where’d you find that?” he asked as he rummaged through the freezer, eyeing the bag of sweet corn regretfully. _Louis better thank me for this_ , he thought.

“I read it once in an edition of _Cosmo_.” Three sets of eyes flew to Liam. “What?” he asked defensively. “It’s not as if Danielle accidentally leaves _Sports Illustrated_ or _Playboy_ around the apartment. A man’s got to read _something_ on the toilet.”

The boys accepted this and the microwave _ding_ ed, and Harry grabbed it and the Tylenol and walked back to Louis’ little space. “Good luck, mate!” Harry heard Niall call softly as Harry knocked on Louis’ wall and entered her ‘room’. 

Louis was now on her side in the fetal position, leaving plenty of room for Harry to sit on the bed. He did so and ghosted a hand down Louis’ right leg, stopping at her ankle. Louis shivered at the touch and Harry’s heart rate kicked up a notch in response. Harry’s fingers closed gently around her ankle and he tugged softly to make her turn onto her back. 

She complied, and Harry murmured, “Where does it hurt?” 

Louis sniffed, eyes squeezed shut and tensed her abs up. “Here,” she whimpered, rubbing over her lower stomach and upper groin area. Harry eased the pillowcase onto the area, unsure of what to do next. Louis sighed and began pressing the heat down onto her skin, almost moaning at the feeling. Harry brought his other arm and nestled it between the back of her neck and her pillow, propping her up slightly and presented her with the Tylenol and his water bottle. 

Louis let out a quiet, pitiful-sounding ‘thanks’, and Harry didn’t answer, watching her lips as she tossed the pills to the back of her throat and took a drink of Harry’s water, pulling a face as she swallowed it down. Harry moved sideways, shifting them both so that Harry was sitting on the bed up against the wall, and Louis was laying down, head resting against his lap. 

Louis moved around slowly until she was comfortable, kneading the make-shift heat pack to soothe the cramps she was feeling. Harry’s larger hands soon pushed hers easily out of the way, and he began to massage the heat into her muscles. Louis tensed up and started to sit up, and Harry let her, only asking, “Did I do something wrong?” Louis didn’t answer him, sitting bowed over so that he could only see her back. After shifting around her, Harry ducked down until he caught her eye. “Did I do something wrong?” he repeated softer.

Louis nodded, and as Harry was about to ask what he did wrong, she sighed and said, “No.” Harry waited, and she folded her arms around her stomach insecurely. “It’s just. I feel. …I feel _fat_ right now, and you’re over here helping and I know you can feel my pudge, and I’m all ugly and-“

“Louis!” Harry said in quiet indignation. “First off, you are _not_ fat. Girls feel bloated during and sometimes before their periods; it doesn’t mean you actually _are_ bloated. And second,” he continued, “even if you _had_ pudge - which, you don’t - it wouldn’t make you any less than perfect. You’re beautiful, Lou.”

Louis looked at Harry as he spoke, and she bit the corner of her lip to try and hide her smile. “Now,” Harry said with a note of calmer finality, “how about I text Liam and tell him to bring in my laptop, and we can watch a movie. Sound good?” Louis nodded, telling Harry to add junk food to the list, and Harry settled back against the wall again, his legs spread in a ‘v’. 

After a moment’s hesitation, Louis scooted back far enough so that when she leaned on Harry, she could still sit up. Her head fit into the bit of Harry’s neck that somehow became his broad shoulder, and Harry rested his cheek on the top of her hair as his arms began to rub the heat into her abdomen again. This time, Louis didn’t object, and Harry smiled. 

Liam slowly and carefully brought in Harry’s laptop and a bag of pretzels and chocolate, like Louis had asked, and he was giving Harry sideways glances as he set them down on the bed cautiously. Harry just gave him a “we’ll talk later” look, and Liam knew he had to accept it, and he left quickly, should Louis change her mind about being pleasant. 

Harry reached around Louis to set it up the movie, entering his password as he logged on. He was just opening the DVD slide when Louis asked quietly, “Did you mean what you said earlier? That I’m beautiful? Or were you just trying to make me shut up about it?”

Harry carefully inserted the DVD and slid it shut, waiting until his computer said it was loading to answer. “I meant it. You’re beautiful, Louis. You know you are; don’t pretend.” His answer started out seriously, but ended playfully and Harry poked Louis’ cheek. 

Louis smiled at the poke, and then said, “Well, I mean. I know people think I’m things like ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’. …I think I’m at least a bit attractive. But I didn’t know _you_ thought it, too.” She said it like it mattered, and Harry instantly paid a bit more attention. 

“’Course I do,” Harry said, trying to be offhand as he fiddled with the settings. The Lions Gate Entertainment sound came on, and Harry spoke over it. “We all think you are.”

Louis was getting a little irritated; she was trying to let Harry know that _he_ was different. His opinion counted more than the other guys’, but the dumb boy wasn’t cottoning on to it. She sighed. “But _you_ think it.”

Harry nodded, glancing down at her and away, and then back. “Does that…” Harry licked his lips. “Does that…mean something to you?”

Louis ignored the fluttering in her stomach that now accompanied her cramps. “Should it?” she asked.

Harry blushed a very pale pink, barely noticeable if you weren’t looking - but Louis was. “I - I think so,” he finally answered. 

Louis smiled tentatively as Harry, finally satisfied with the settings, placed the computer flat on Louis’ shins, holding his hands out until he was sure of the laptop’s stability. Convinced it wouldn’t fall over, Harry looked at Louis, and smiled in response. 

Hesitantly, he leaned forward, pausing a few times until he was sure she wanted it, too. Louis held her breath and nibbled her bottom lip as Harry’s lips came into contact with her cheek. She blushed and her skin burned where Harry’s fleeting lips had been, and as Harry slowly settled back against the wall, she leaned into his warmth, her petite frame fitting perfectly inside his broader one. They watched the laptop in silence, each in their own thoughts until the movie actually started.

They watched the movie, giggling and chatting through it, like usual, until Louis passed out against Harry. Harry took notice the moment she went fully limp against his frame, and he smiled, reaching slowly to turn the volume down. He shifted her light body in his arms, rolling carefully so that she was laying against the pillow instead of him. 

Pulling the covers over her, Harry leaned down and kissed Louis’ forehead quickly and turned to leave. 

“Love you, Harry,” she mumbled, half-asleep.

Harry smiled. “Love you, Lou.”


End file.
